VFWs and Auxiliary offer essay, audio competitions

TOWNSEND -- Townsend VFW Post No. 6538 and its Auxiliary are sponsoring the Patriot's Pen Contest for students in grades 6-8. This year's theme is "America's Gift to My Generation."

Essays must be typewritten in English. No color or graphics may be added. The essay should contain 300-400 total words. Students should not put their name on their essay, but a completed Official Student Patriot's Pen Competition Entry Form must be stapled to the top of it. Participants should not identify themselves, their school, town, state, race, or country of origin within their essay. Quotations may be used sparingly if plainly identified whenever used.

The essay will be judged on knowledge of the theme (30 points), theme development (35 points) and clarity of ideas (35 points).

A top prize of $5,000 will be awarded by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States and its Auxiliary to the first-place national winner at the organization's Washington conference in March. Additional national prizes for second through 54th place range from $4,000 to $500.

At the local level, $100 will be awarded to the first-place winner. The second-place winner will receive $70, and $40 will be awarded for third. The Townsend VFW Post and Auxiliary will advance one of its highest-scoring essays to the District 15 level of competition for each 15 entries received at the local level.

District 15 will award a total of $225 in cash to their top three winners. The winning district entry will be entered in the Department of Massachusetts VFW level of competition.

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The state's top five winners will each receive monetary awards from both the state VFW and the VFW Auxiliary Department of Massachusetts. The first-place state entry will be entered into the national competition.

Entries should be submitted to VFW Auxiliary to Townsend Post No. 6538 President Betty Mae Tenney or to Townsend VFW Post No. 6538 Past Commander Russell Jobe by Tuesday, Oct. 31. Students who attend the Hawthorne Brook Middle School should submit their entries through their classroom teachers.

TOWNSEND -- "American History: Our Hope for the Future" is the theme of this year's Voice of Democracy Patriotic Audio Essay Competition, sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States and its Auxiliary. The grand prize is a $30,000 scholarship.

Townsend VFW Post No. 6538, its Auxiliary and Pepperell VFW Post No. 3291 are co-sponsoring the program at North Middlesex Regional High School, Nashoba Valley Technical High School, Groton-Dunstable Regional High School, Ayer Shirley Regional High School and Lunenburg High School.

Young people who attend schools where the program is not being conducted by a VFW Post and/or its Auxiliary, or who are enrolled in an approved home-school program, may enter the Townsend-Pepperell program by submitting their entry to Townsend VFW Post Chairman Russell Jobe, Townsend VFW Auxiliary Chairman Betty Mae Tenney, or Pepperell VFW Post Chairman Paul Rakiey.

The winner of the Townsend-Pepperell contest will receive $150 in cash, $100 will be awarded to the second-place winner, and the third-place winner will receive $50. The local winning entry will be entered in the District #15 level of competition, where cash prizes will be awarded to the winning contestants.

To enter, students must write an essay on "American History: Our Hope for the Future" then record it on an audio CD or a flash drive, taking not less than three minutes and not more than five minutes. The script as read by the student should be the only sound on the audio CD or flash drive. No music, special effects or background sounds will be allowed. The recording will be judged on originality (30 points), content (35 points) and delivery (35 points). Treatment of the theme should show imagination and human interest. The ideas should be clearly expressed in an organized manner. The contestant should speak in a clear and credible manner. Participants cannot identify themselves, their school, city, state, race or country of origin within their written essay or recording. However, they should label their recording and their neatly typed essay to alleviate any confusion over the ownership of the entry.

All recorded entries, accompanied by a typed copy of the script and a completed official entry form, must be submitted to a Townsend or Pepperell Voice of Democracy Chairman by Tuesday, Oct. 31.

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